Violence was again raging in Israel and the Palestinian territories. America had an ambitious plan to end it, with the support of Arab countries who offered to normalise ties with Israel. But America felt that it could no longer work with the ageing, isolated Palestinian president. Peace would require new blood, and so America pushed the Palestinian leader to name a technocratic prime minister who would reform the corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) and build a state-in-waiting.
This sounds like today—but it was also the case in 2003, when America ran out of patience with Yasser Arafat during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising. His choice for prime minister was none other than Mahmoud Abbas, who went on to become president himself in 2005 and is today in the 19th year of a four-year term. The pa is still corrupt; statehood has never been so far away. And now, amid the carnage in Gaza, an exasperated America wants Mr Abbas to choose his own reform-minded prime minister.
First as tragedy, then as farce: two decades after he was brought in to placate Western donors, Mr Abbas now needs a figurehead of his own.
When the service is slow.
#haifa #cat #israel #animals via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C3qcjQltzmv/
Palestinian band “Al Fajer Group” performing in 1989.
Al Fajer was co-founded by four Palestinian artists who were refugees in Kuwait: Sima Kanaan (Vocals), Bashar Shammout (Guitar) Jameel Saraj (Oud and Guitar) and Nizar Alyan (Percussion).
Rooted in acoustic oud, guitar and percussion, the band was known for never using any electronic equipment during their sets. When they were first established they would perform Palestinian patriotic songs, related to the Palestinian liberation struggle.
They released their launch album, recorded on reel tapes, during the First Intifada in 1988, after which they began composing and writing their own original music. They were unable to release this due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when all the band members were forced to leave the country and could not reunite to release the second album.
During the limited time in which they were able to work together, they participated in multiple tours in Kuwait, Iraq, Germany and other locations.
New roast of Tucker Carlson is out!
Watch it while it's still warm, straight out of the oven!
(wait, I'm not supposed to say that, as a Jew 😭)
Jon Stewart is at his best here, confronting both the Democratic partisan response to his roasting of Biden on his previous show, while also delivering a proper metaphorical slap to Carlson.
Part of Stewart's tremendous satirical talent, imo, comes form his ability to expose public figures whom we usually take too much seriously, as what they're really are: real life clowns.
But in the case of people like Carlson, so it seems, he barely even needs to construct any comedic buildup at all: He's a living and breathing joke, that needs no introduction.
It's telling enough that Stewart didn't even bother to mock him for listening to Putin's "history lesson" for more than 30 mins, simply bc the internet memers already chewed this topic enough for the past two weeks.
Greece legalized same-sex marriage.
But what's interesting about all of this, is that similarly to the UK, this move was made under a conservative gov't.
Then just a few minutes later, casually mentions Biden causing inflation because of how supposedly he's "pro-working class" and "pro-middle-class".
The lack of self-awareness here is tragic.
Please note these two jaw-dropping excerpts from an interview with Joshua Green on the Daily Show (14/02):
Читать полностью…Every murder/disappearance mystery series which takes place in a small fictional town must make a visible tribute to Twin Peaks. It seems like these are rules of the genre now 🥲
Regardless, so far "True Detective: Night Country" is amazing.
"Think of it like the Hezbollah of germs and plaque in your mouth, compounding and strengthening every moment you ignore the need to brush. "
"You have to understand that the avoidance of brushing your teeth is not just a matter of freshness and hygiene." This can become a challenge that is dozens of times harder than a mild toothache. We're talking about the process where bacteria and plaque begin to arm themselves with chemical and biological agents that can erupt in an all-out war on your gums. "
"We have millions of bacteria planning to attack and won't stop in our mouths. Checkpoints of dental floss and toothbrushes need to be formed in every corner of your mouth. On every corner there will be barriers of fluoride to protect the last fortress of gums. "
"It's not just about plaque. Once the plaque starts to accumulate - it will also be joined by anaerobic bacteria waiting for a moment of weakness. There is a danger of severe inflammatory processes in the gums and even pathogens that can reach the blood. 'Not have white teeth' is nothing compared to the destruction that can unfold. This is the most serious threat since the invention of the brush. "
"We need to protect our smile. No one else would do it for us. The dentist is far away and what he wants to send won't arrive on time. You won't get help - they're not going to protect your teeth. "
Ronen Spierer
Why so many Americans are convinced that being Jewish = sexual promiscuousness? 🥲
https://twitter.com/wolkovitzky/status/1743759933068153092
It feels like "authentic" is this buzzword that you'd use when you must describe smth mediocre. Like, "it doesn't feel like it's too good to be true", or "it feels like real life, bc real life sucks a bit too". 🥲
#haifa #downtown #israel #signs
When you ask "what's wrong?"
And your girl says "nothing", but looks at you like this cat. 🥲
#cat #haifa #israel #straycats #animals
The look says it all. 🥲
#dogo #haifa #israel #animals via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C3qbzG3NYKo/
So many things happened last week, and especially on the weekend. But let's start with the positive one.
Читать полностью…He starts with "there's a huge worry about inflation... and that's a huge challenge that Biden has to deal with".
Читать полностью…That's sad how true it is 🥲
Diplomacy has only two speeds in the region, “slow—and slower”.
A beautiful excerpt from "The Oldest Stories" podcast
#mesopotamia #history #philosophy #mythology #demonology #Babylon #Assyria
Mr Macron and Mr Attal have a combined age lower than that of America’s Joe Biden.
The president appoints modern France’s youngest prime minister
from The Economist
'Some of them are close in age to my daughters and I hugged them so hard,' she said. But the social worker shared harrowing details of other female captives.
'There were girls who spent 50 days and more alone,' she said. 'When they were sad, crying, their captors would stroke them and touch them. They described accounts of sexual abuse under gunpoint on a regular basis.
'Some of the girls were badly wounded and haven't been getting proper medical care. Gunshot wounds, even lost limbs. They said they can cope with the disability but not with the manner they were constantly violated.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12936173/The-faces-girls-held-Hamas-families-make-desperate-plea-release-three-months-captured.html
A combination of chaos, enormous grief and Jewish religious duties meant that many bodies were buried as quickly as possible. Most were never examined, and in some cases, like at the rave scene, where more than 360 people were slaughtered in a few hours, the bodies were hauled away by the truckload.
That has left the Israeli authorities at a loss to fully explain to families what happened to their loved ones in their final moments. Ms. Abdush’s relatives, for instance, never received a death certificate. They are still searching for answers.
In cases of widespread sexual violence during a war, it is not unusual to have limited forensic evidence, experts said.
“Armed conflict is so chaotic,” said Adil Haque, a Rutgers law professor and war crimes expert. “People are more focused on their safety than on building a criminal case down the road.”
Very often, he said, sex crime cases will be prosecuted years later on the basis of testimony from victims and witnesses.
“The eyewitness might not even know the name of the victim,” he added. “But if they can testify as, ‘I saw a woman being raped by this armed group,’ that can be enough.”